Also, while reading all of the wonderful emails, I did not realize how many people love and miss my teleseminars that I’ve done over the years. I feel so blessed.

With that said…

I Am Back!!

I have decided to start doing free teleseminars again to do what I love and teach you guys what I’ve learned. Keep an eye on your email and this blog for announcements of teleseminars to come in the very near future.

Again…thank you all for your help and your kind comments!! I appreciate you!!

If you haven’t signed up for my newsletter, do that now. It only takes a second. Just enter your email and name in the form here.

The reactions, including mine, were interesting. Everyone who replied felt that layoffs should be based on performance, not on personal feelings. And they should.

But…(there it is…that but)…

Here in the real world, things do not work that way. Companies base all kinds of decisions on relationships and personal feelings rather than on merit.

A couple months ago, I wrote about a company with an unsecure shopping cart on their site. Their web designer did one of the BIGGEST no no’s known to web designers. He knowingly left an unsecure shopping cart up on the site. When I notified the company, I explained to them (through the referenced post) why their unsecure shopping cart was a dangerous thing and why they needed to fix it. Now, the owner went to my site and KNOWS that I build websites. He knows that I obviously know what I’m doing. Did he fire his incompetent web designer and hire me? NO!! Why is that? Because he had a prior RELATIONSHIP with his web designer. Even though this person or company could have cost him his business if the credit card companies caught wind that he was taking card numbers over a non secure website, he still kept the web designer and had them fix the problem. Now I see that the same company is on facebook. Again, they have some nitwit advising them. Here is what their wall looks like:

If you look, they have all of their posts coming from HootSuite. They NEVER EVEN VISIT THE FACEBOOK ACCOUNT!!! You can’t interact with customers that way. Poor Elke has been waiting since Sunday (it’s now Wednesday) for an answer. Sure, she can visit the site and get her answers, however, this post from her proves that she found them on facebook and wants to interact with them on facebook. However, someone told them to just put up a facebook account and spam the facebook wall with great things about themselves. (I think they need to take my Internet Marketing Using Social Spaces – 4 Week Course)

I notified another person who has a website that there were many dead links on the home page of her site. This person is a guest speaker at a huge month long online conference that I am attending. She is supposed to be an expert. However, her poor website was not a reflection of her professionalism. Obviously, her current web designer wasn’t doing his job. When I brought this to her attention, did she hire me and get rid of the web designer who didn’t do his job? NO…because she has a prior relationship with the web designer who doesn’t do his job. She did have him redesign the site.

I could post many, many stories just like this, but I think you get the picture. If you create great relationships with people, you can screw up quite a bit and they will probably keep you around. But…if you DON’T have those relationships…you aren’t going to be around very long if you do manage to get your foot in the door. It works that way in the corporate world as well as in the real world. Employees and self employed people come upon these same hurdles. It’s all in how you maneuver past them.

If you are trying to do business online, consider taking my Internet Marketing Using Social Spaces – 4 Week Course and learn how to use social spaces to create those relationships and build your business.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post over at my other blog about a similar situation as the one I’m writing about today.

I recently joined an online course and was immediately presented with two free audios. I did what I always do and googled the people who were speaking in the audios. One of the speakers had a wonderful website that offered free audios. I signed up and received access to the free audios. Simple. Just like the process should be.

The other website also had free audios advertised. That website, however, did not make the process of requesting them simple. I did request them, but they were not provided. I was told that I had to PURCHASE the audios. Now, me being me, I made a little video of my experiences. I’ll post that below for you to see. (ed note: I’ve removed said video and will explain why at the bottom of this post)

What you need to realize, if you are going to do business online, is that your potential customers see what you do. They see it and they can blog about it and make videos about it and tell the world all about your bait & switch scams. Bad word of mouth travels fast, but nowadays on the internet – it travels way faster. Bottom line…never promise anything you are not willing to deliver. If a customer comes to you and says they didn’t get XYZ and they show you proof that you offered it, GIVE IT TO THEM.

I highly recommend anyone who is considering doing business with Penny Sansevieri (or Sanseveri as some spell it) watch the video below and decide for yourself if this is someone you want to do business with or not. It’s sad that there are people like this in the world today, but there are and they are all around us. Many times, they come highly recommended by some other “guru” who doesn’t care that they are a scam artist. Many times they don’t consider things like promising free stuff and then not delivering it a scam. But it is!!
Feel free to comment below about the video. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Also, if you know of other bait & switch scams like this, let me know. I’ll be happy to expose them for you. We have to stick together and tell these scam artists that we are NOT GOING TO STAND FOR IT anymore!!

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UPDATE:

I deleted the video because Penny Sansevieri contacted me personally to apologize for the links in her site that went nowhere. She is in the process of redoing the site as I type. I look forward to seeing her updated site at http://amarketingexpert.com when it is ready.

You may ask – why not just remove the post? I’m not removing the post because the content is still relevant. If we expose these things one at a time, maybe we can change the internet mentality one at a time. You never know.

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Make it a great day!!

First, what is URL masking?

When you mask a URL, it means that the URL you are masking stays in the address bar of the browser instead of the URL you are linking to. For example, my affiliate URL for my network marketing company is http://www.sendoutcards.com/88338. If I want, I could mask http://WorkWithRoxanne.com so that http://WorkWithRoxanne.com stays in the address bar and http://www.sendoutcards.com/88338 never shows up. Many affiliate marketers who are assigned long affiliate URLs use masking so people can’t strip the affiliate portion off and bypass them. Sounds pretty good, huh?!

DON’T STOP READING YET

Second, should you use masking?

NEVER. The only time you should use masking is if you want a URL to go to an information page and there are no signup forms there and no outlinks.

I got a call the other day. The person told me that they personally sent 5 people to their affiliate link and didn’t get the credit for it. After a bit of discussion, I found out that they bought a URL and redirected that URL to their affiliate link. Nothing wrong with that. That’s a great idea. However, I then found out that they masked the URL. Big no no!! When their 5 people entered the masked URL into their browser, it took them to the correct affiliate page. But…when they clicked the link to join, since the URL was masked, it stripped the affiliate portion away and they did not get credit for sending people to their link.

If you are doing affiliate marketing, feel free to redirect a URL to your affiliate link. DO NOT MASK IT. If you mask it, you are wasting money marketing your affiliate link because you get no credit for anyone going through that link. There is no way for the person or company running the affiliate program to know who came through your masked URL.

And don’t EVER mask a URL going to a blog. Let’s say you’re reading this blog. And, because there’s so much great info here, you want to send someone to an individual post. If you entered through a masked URL, the address bar in your browser will always show the masked URL so you are unable to copy the link to a specific post.

So…remember…if you are linking to a one page website with no links out, you may mask a URL. Other than that, never mask a URL.

When in doubt…DO NOT MASK.

I’ve been doing these things for years for free. No more.

I am, however, feeling great about life in general this morning and I want to extend a special offer to everyone here. Many of you have asked about my services but not followed through. Many have asked AND followed through.

I would like to offer everyone who reads my blog – this week only – HALF OFF my quote fee. Generally I do a free 15 minute consultation and charge $50 to work up a quote. The $50 is non refundable, however, it does get deducted from whatever services you purchase.

For the week of July 12 to 18, anyone who reads my blog can fill out the form on the right to request a free 15 minute consultation. You will get instructions on how to schedule a consultation with me after you confirm your interest. Schedule your free consultation and get a quote for HALF OFF. $25 instead of $50.

If you retain my services within 5 days of the quote date, you will receive an additional 10% off the price!!!

My good mood is your good fortune!!! If you’ve been wanting to build a website, blog or social spaces profile or wanting to learn how to use blogs & social spaces, now is the time!!

You will NEVER – NEVER be successful if you can not follow simple directions. You will NEVER be successful if you cause the person you want help from to get caught up in an endless email loop trying to schedule a time to talk to you. When I run across people like this, I don’t even bother replying. I don’t need to beg for business and I don’t need to chase you down and make you work with me.

Why would I do that? Why would I turn away business? It’s really very simple. You can’t pay me enough money to help you have success. No matter what I do, you will never be successful because you can’t follow directions. I’m really doing you a favor by not taking your money until there comes a time when you can do a simple task. If you want help from someone, read every email they send you. Make sure you understand what is being asked of you. DO THAT. Don’t do something different. My business works because I have set boundaries and I have a set way of doing things. If everyone schedules appointments with me in a different way, my business would not work and appointments would be missed. Learn from that.

Bottom line – if you want to be successful in business, learn to do simple things that are asked of you.

Your input is appreciated.   What would you like to see?  Is there anything in particular you would like to learn?

Please leave your comments below.

You wouldn’t?  Why not?

This is exactly what a lot of people do every day on social spaces online.  They request your friendship and then start slamming their offer all over the place.  They don’t take the time to get to know you first or let you get to know them. When you look at their updates, there’s not many attempts to get to know anyone or to interact on a social level, but there are mostly posts saying how wonderful they and/or their “deal” is.

They call this “internet marketing” however, it’s just plain rude.

Treat social spaces like a party.  You are there to get to know people.  If people are interested in what you do, they will ask.  Talk to them.  Get to know them.  Ask about them.  They may want to find out more and ask about you.  Then again, they may not.  Either way, that’s OK.  Not everyone is going to be interested in doing business with you.  Just like not everyone at a party will be interested in dating you.

So…what can you do?  Well…think of it this way…if you were going to a party and you wanted people to find you approachable, you would probably shower and dress nicely.  You may be sure to brush your teeth so your breath doesn’t chase people away.  You would probably even put deodorant on so you smell good.  Maybe you would even put on some jewelry.  If you’re a lady, you might wear makeup.  All of these things make you look good and make you more appealing to others.

Your social spaces profile is a representation of who you are.  It is your profile.  Put your business links on there.  Start the relationship building process by commenting on other people’s updates and giving out good information.  Be nice, talk to people and act just as you would act in a social setting in person.

Don’t post updates about your business constantly.  This is like screaming at everyone at the party.   You can occasionally say something to pique curiosity and get others to come look at your profile or website.  Notice I said occasionally.  The majority of your interactions with others should be non-business related.  Post about your day.  Let others get to know you.  Reply to comments that others leave.  Be nice and kind.  If others are interested in finding out more about you, they can come to your profile where you will have links to more information.

Be cautious when posting updates.  Contrary to the popular belief of most business people trying to use social media, your updates are NOT to be considered part of your profile.  They are to be considered part the the community.  These are like statements you would make at a party to someone you are just meeting.  You wouldn’t walk up to someone and say “Hi, my name is Suzie and I have the greatest deal since sliced bread over here.  You MUST come with me so I can tell you about it”.  You might get a few desperate people who are willing to follow you and listen, but these types of relationships don’t generally last.  You want a relationship built on mutual interests.  Whether it be a friendship, a business partnership or a love relationship.  It doesn’t matter.  They each need to be built on solid ground in order for them to work.

Now…some may say “Come on Roxanne…we all know that strip clubs are very popular.  A lot of people like that scene.  What do you say about that?”  Think about the stripper, patron relationship.  How many good, solid relationships have you ever heard of that began between a stripper and the people patronizing the strip club?  Not counting soap operas, I haven’t heard of many.  There’s nothing wrong with strippers.  I know quite a few.  There’s nothing wrong with people who patronize strip clubs.  I know quite a few of those as well.  However, for the majority of people, they do not go to places like that looking for a serious relationship.

Bottom line, if you are serious about building a business online, simply be yourself, be nice and be helpful.  If others WANT to find out more about you they will ask.  Make yourself appealing and approachable and you’ll have plenty of people wanting to get to know you.  Walk into the room and strip naked and you’re going to offend a much larger percentage than not.

Bottom line – remember – don’t strip naked at the party.  Save that for later in the relationship.

According to Inc. Magazine, 91% of all businesses they surveyed are attempting to promote their businesses using social media. Social media includes blogs, facebook, twitter, linked in, myspace, youtube, the list goes on. Social spaces include anywhere where you can interact directly with your potential customers / clients / business partners.

Why does the study say the 91% are attempting to use social media to build their business? Because, for the majority of them, what they are doing is NOT working. Businesses come onto social media platforms and quickly find out that traditional marketing methods do not work. They end up frustrated, throwing up their hands and exclaiming “Social marketing does not work!!”

A social marketing consultant / manager knows the ins and outs of social marketing. she knows how to get the most benefit from these types of sites. She will show you how to interact on social media sites and how to set up your profiles. She will clean up and modify your social spaces profiles. If you don’t have profiles yet, she can set them up for you. She can also go in and do weekly maintenance on these sites so you don’t have to wade through all of the mess in order to interact with your potential customers or business partners.

To sum up – a social marketing consultant or manager makes your job a lot easier and less stressful.

Fill out the form on the right for a free consultation to see how I can help you.